Tag Archives: glaze testing

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I’m starting with Duncan Renaissance Glazes. I love these glazes! I stumbled across them a while ago, I don’t remember when exactly, and I don’t remember how I found them, but I’m so glad I did. They’re user-friendly, they brush on so easy. I like glazes that are easy to use and consistent, and this glaze is one of them.

These glazes vary, depending on the thickness you use, whether it has texture or not, and how much texture it has. The more texture, the better it looks. Where you place it in the kiln, makes a difference also. Pieces placed at or near the bottom of the kiln are greener, darker and react more with the texture. The pieces at or near the top of the kiln are lighter and don’t usually have a rustic look. I also think it depends on the brushes you use as well.

I use fan brushes for most of my pieces. I use a small brush for the rims, edges and for detail work. For small pieces like ornaments, I use a small fan brush or a small brush, when I run out of clean fan brushes.

As you can see from the photo above, my bird ornament is lighter than my birdie bowl. It has less texture then the birdie bowl, there are several areas on the ornament that have no texture at all, verses the birdie bowl which is completely covered with texture and it was placed at the top of my kiln.

Before I start glazing, I apply wax resist on the bottom of my ornaments, and then I go up the sides just a little, so the glaze doesn’t go all the way to the bottom. I apply three light coats on the top only, and two light coats on the sides. I don’t want any drips or any ornaments sticking to my shelves. When I fire my ornaments. I place them on kiln stilts to raise them up off the shelf.

I apply wax resist to the bottoms of my birdie bowls. Then brush on three coats of glaze on the top, and bottoms except for a small area where the wax resist is. I have several sizes of fan brushes and usually use one of the smaller ones. Then I use a regular small brush for the edges.

As you can see from this photo, the green bird ornaments all look-alike for the most part. The butterflies look darker…they have more texture, and they were placed toward the bottom of my kiln.

This photo shows you the difference between a textured surface verses a non-textured surface and kiln placement. The small bowl at the top of the photo was placed at the bottom or near the bottom and has no texture. The leaf bowl was placed near the top of my kiln and has a little texture.

This is what the glaze looks like on my non-textured ruffle rim bowls. The bottoms were waxed with wax resist and then three coats were applied to the bottoms, inside and rims. They were placed near the bottom of my kiln.

This heart dish was glazed with three coats of glaze on the bottom and top, using a smaller fan brush, and three coats on the sides/edge with a small brush, after it was waxed, like the birdie bowls. This one looks like it was placed near or at the top of my kiln.

The green leaf magnets were glazed like my bird ornaments, three light coats on the top and two coats on the sides. They were fired toward the top of my kiln, see how light they are. The maple leaves were glazed with three coats and are usually placed in the middle of my kiln.

This is one of my handmade dinnerware collections called Lake House, formally known as Brooklawn Park. This glaze loves texture, it makes Lake House look fabulous!

Each piece is slightly different, and completely covered in texture.

I use a large fan brush on the plates and a medium size one for the bowls. They all have three coats of glaze on the bottom (except where I waxed with wax resist), and the top and I apply three coats on the rims with a small brush.

This is another one of my handmade dinnerware collections called Tropical Breeze. They’re glazed just like Lake House, three coats on all sides. But it looks different. The glaze pools in between the raised lines.

Vintage Cottage is another one of my handmade dinnerware collections. As you can see from the photo, the plates were fired near the bottom of the kiln and the bowl was fired near the top. The plates are more rustic looking. I love this glaze!

When I started making these plates, I put the design on the bottom…because I wanted a smooth clean surface on the top of the plate, for food. But now, I think I might put the design on the top as well. People can choose which one they like better, or they can mix and match. For example…a dinner plate with the design on the bottom, side plate with the design on the top, and bread and butter plate with the design on the bottom, or the other way around. A dinner plate with the design on the top, side plate plain and bread and butter plate with the design on the top. I think that would be cute!

I’m not sure what colors I’ll glaze them in yet…either?

I’ll have to make a bunch of little plates and do some glaze testing to see how they come out, especially with the plates that have the design on the top. I’ll have to use a transparent glaze or at least a glaze that works well with texture.

I really like this design.

I’m not sure what to call it though? I was thinking about calling it Cobblestone, but I’m not sure? What do you think I should call them?

It’s another great glaze by Potters Choice. It’s easy to use, brushes on nicely and is very consistent. I haven’t had any problems with it…at all! And it’s fantastic with texture. You can see every single detail. I really like that!

It’s definitely a keeper!

A while ago, I purchased two bottles of PC -41 Vert Lustre…mainly because it looked like a really nice dark green. It’s another great glaze by Potters Choice. It brushes on really nice, and it fires well…but it’s really difficult to photograph because it’s so glossy. If you don’t need to take photos, then it’s great!

After working with clay for almost 25 years, I’m getting a little picky with my glazes. They have to brush on easy (if I’m not dipping), they have to be consistent, and they have to photograph well. That’s really important if you sell online. You need good photos. So, if a glaze doesn’t photograph well…it’s gone!

I wasn’t pleased with myself for purchasing two bottles, I usually only buy one bottle at a time when trying out a new glaze. So, I decided to layer it with another glaze and see how that would work out.

I choose to layer it with Deep Olive Speckle.

Now, this is much better! I can photograph it…Yay!

The color is a little different from the test piece by Potters Choice, I kind of like this color better. It’s different because Potters Choice used 2 coats of Deep Olive Speckle and then 2 coats of Vert Lustre on top…four coats total. Four coats scare me, I think that’s a little too much glaze. I don’t want drips (I hate drips), and I don’t want the glaze to run onto my shelf. So, I used 2 coats of Deep Olive Speckle and 1 coat of Vert Lustre on top…three coats total. I like it! I think I’ll keep it. What do you think?

I think I’ll call this color…Pacific Pine

Here’s a close-up view

After trying it out on some leaves, I wanted to see how it reacted with texture. So, I tried it out on a couple of Birdie Bowls. You can see the texture through the glaze, but not as clearly as if it were just Deep Olive Speckle. That’s because Deep Olive Speckle is a translucent glaze and Vert Lustre isn’t. But, I like the way it looks. What do you think?

Here’s the other Birdie Bowl. There’s still some glare from the glossy glaze though. I’ll have to do some extra photo editing the next time I use this glaze combination.

I think this color would be great around the holidays.

Since that glaze combination went well, I think I’ll try these glaze combinations, and see what happens. My test pieces probably won’t look exactly like these, because I’m not using 4 coats. We’ll see what happens!

Several months ago, I decided to create a new line of handmade dinnerware called “The Lake House Collection.” So far, there are 5 different designs, each with their own name.

Mirror Lake…which actually use to be called Brooklawn Park, is now part of The Lake House Collection. I think the swirling leaf design (reminiscent of reflected leaves in the swirling water) fits better in this collection.

Echo Lake…will be dinnerware with no texture, in the same colors as Mirror Lake. I’m thinking about putting the swirling leaf design on the bottom of the plates, but I’m not sure yet. We’ll see how it goes.

Mystic Lake…will be all about the glaze. I’ll be experimenting with glaze combinations and hopefully I’ll be able to make some magic!

Shadow Lake…will have some kind of leaf design, not sure yet though. It might be a little more moody and darker in color? I still have to figure this one out.

Sunset Lake…will be autumn colors, with and without texture.

The names I choose for the collection, are names of real lakes in Massachusetts, where I’m from. I thought it would be really nice to name them after real lakes.

Here’s some of the glaze combinations I’m wanting to try on my bottles and vases, especially the simple, clean line forms. However, I think these could look great on the pieces with the handles too. Here’s a look at the sketches from yesterday’s post, just in case you missed it.

I feel like a kid in the candy store. I want to try every single one of these glaze combinations by Potters Choice. I can already see these glazes on my bottles and vases. And they would look great on dinnerware too. I love these!

#1 Art Deco Green over True Celadon is absolutely gorgeous

#2 Umber Float over True Celadon is awesome

#3 Frosted Melon over True Celadon is so pretty

#4 Tourmaline over True Celadon is really nice

Oh, my word!

I am in love with #1, isn’t it gorgeous! I can definitely see that one on my bottles and vases. Oh, and dinnerware too! I think I’ll try that one first. I have to do more than one post on these glaze combinations, there’s so many gorgeous colors. Wait till you see the blues and browns.

I was going through my old photos, and stumbled across some photos of bottles and vases I made a long time ago. I forgot all about these! These photos are of bisque fired pieces (they hadn’t been glazed yet.) Now I really want to make some new ones!

I love making sassy handles!

I love this handle!

I love the shape of this one, and the handle! I’m really looking forward to making more of these. I’m planning on experimenting with different glazes, and doing some glaze combinations to see what kind of effects I’ll be able to achieve. It should be interesting!

This one is still in it’s bisque form. I haven’t decided what glaze to use on it, or maybe I’m just too afraid to glaze it. I just don’t know what to do with it yet! I think I’ll make mini versions of this, and test some glazes out on the little ones first. I think that’s a good idea!